


Literature Club of the Dead (Sayori version)

by CplCorgi



Series: Literature Club of the Dead [3]
Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Gen, Nakamaship, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2019-10-17 19:28:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17566574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CplCorgi/pseuds/CplCorgi
Summary: It's the day after the festival, and it seems all is well for the members of the Literature Club. That is, until the Zombie Apocalypse begins.The Literature Club has an idea of where they can go to be safe. The only trouble is that there's dozens of miles and thousands of zombies between them and there. But hey! It's just like a road trip with friends, right? Traveling countless miles, going on adventures in zombie-infested buildings together, sleeping with one eye open, wondering if you'll live to see dawn...There's four versions of this fic. The difference being which Doki MC wound up together with. I might have to abandon this feature if it turns out to be too labor intensive, though. I've also formatted the text in a way that's reminiscent of the way a visual novel would be formatted, so that's why everything seems to get its own paragraph.





	1. Flashpoint

It’s the day after the festival.

I’m still a little worn out from Sayori pulling me by the wrist all over the festival yesterday, but the thought of coming back to the Literature Club and seeing her again is enough to keep me going.

I pull myself out of bed, take a quick shower, shovel a granola bar down my throat and head out my front door. Already, I can see Sayori waiting for me.

“Good morning, MC~” Sayori says, smiling that innocent smile of hers as if she didn’t just call me ‘MC’. Oh christ. Even my newfound girlfriend is in on it

“Oh come on, babe!” I say, beginning to walk towards the school. “I write just one less-than-stellar rap as my poem, and now even you won’t stop calling me MC!”

Despite my protests, Sayori just giggles. I swear, she’s enjoying this little joke just as much as the others. But when she speaks again, she says something I wasn’t ready for.

“Ehehe~ The other girls might be making fun of you, but do you know why I call you ‘MC’?” she asks.

“Because you’re in on the joke?” I say.

Sayori pouts. “Come on sweetie! Give me more credit than that!” And then she was right back to smiling. “I call you ‘MC’ because I’m sure that you could be an awesome rapper someday, if you just put your mind to it!”

“Heh… Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, Sayori.” I say. Of course, I’m not all that passionate about becoming a rapper, but I’m not about to shut Sayori down when she’s trying to be supportive.

We keep on walking, arm in arm until we reach the front gates of the school. With a quick smooch and a warm wish, we part ways.

The school day passes, but through the doldrum and monotony, I can tell that something isn’t quite right. When I got to the lunchroom, the guy I usually wind up sitting next to… Daichi was his name, I think. He wasn’t acting like himself at all. Usually, he would talk up a storm with anyone else nearby and treat us to his endless reserve of puns. I don’t really know the guy, but he usually made me smile at least once a day.

But today? He barely responded to anything. All he did was groan a few times, clutch his head and glare at anyone who engaged him for too long. He wolfed down his lunch like a madman, though. As if he’d gone hungry so long that he’d forgotten what chewing felt like. Daichi isn’t the only one acting strange either. A solid half of the student body is worryingly unresponsive. I really hope none of the Literature Club has the bug.

The day carries on, even more dead than usual. History class comes, and I tune out right when the teacher starts to discuss the formation of the United Prefectures of Japamerica. Yes, yes. FDR and Hirohito had a political marriage and our great nation was formed. Just don’t make me think about the honeymoon.

While I’m tuned out, I begin to think of the literature club, of Sayori, of what’s going on in my animes right now, and then it occurs to me. I haven’t heard any kind of government advisory about the bug going around. Nobody’s confirmed if it’s the flu, mad cow disease, a collective panic attack, or anything. I haven't even heard if the government was investigating or not. I ask around, and even the students who are lucid enough to talk are as clueless as I am. It’s like this illness just materialized this morning.

Hell… maybe I have it. Can’t tell if I’m sick or just so bored by the banality of my classes that I’m falling asleep. After what felt like a week of monotony and worrying about catching the bug, it’s finally time to go to the literature club. Thank God.

I walk up in that club, and the usual scene greets me. Natsuki’s off in the corner with her manga, Yuri’s at her desk with her horror novel, and Monika and Sayori are up front with their conversations.

As I enter the club room, Sayori runs over and pulls me into a hug.

“MC!~” She says. I can feel her trying to pick me up and spin me around, but she doesn’t quite have the strength to accomplish it. It occurs to me just how massive of a 180 in attitude from how despondent Sayori was the day before the festival. Maybe our newfound relationship is giving her some kind of contact high…

How long is that going to last?

“Gee, it's like you haven't seen me in months…” I say, not resisting her embrace.

“Yeah, but every minute feels like a month without you!” Sayori says. Yuri moves to hide her smile behind her book, Natsuki just rolls her eyes. I smile too, in spite of myself.

Sayori can be absolutely adorable when she wants to be. Guess that’s part of why I love her so much.

“Alright, alright, I’m here. Now what do we do?” I say.

“We could talk, silly~” Sayori says. And honestly, that’s all we really need to do, isn’t it? Hell, we could just sit down and enjoy one another’s presence and I’d be totally happy with that.

I guess Sayori’s not the only one with a contact high from all this.

We pay little mind to the reactions of the other club members as we take a seat together to talk.

“So, how’ve you been feeling, Sayori?” I ask, swiveling my head around the classroom to confirm that the others weren’t paying us any mind.

“Fantastic!~” She says, tacking on an “I really mean it.” when she sees my incredulous expression.

“Really?” I ask. “This is all such a sudden turnaround from… well… you know.”

Sayori sighs and gives me a wistful smile. “That raincloud is still there, but yesterday was a wind that blew it far, far away.”

As little as I know about depression, there wouldn’t be medical treatments for it if it could be cured by one good day at a school festival. So it makes sense that her change in mood would be a temporary thing.

 

In the blink of an eye, Sayori plants a kiss on my cheek. “I have you to thank for that.~”

We may officially be an item now, but the sudden smooch is still enough to stun me. It takes a solid 15 seconds for my lips to remember how to form words and say “Don’t mention it.”

Thankfully, that just made Sayori giggle. “Gosh, boyfriend or no you’re still the dork I’ve always known, aren’t you, MC?”

A sly smile creeps up my face. Now’s my chance for payback. “And so are you, Sayori.” I can see in Sayori’s face that she’s about to chastise me for being mean, so I quickly follow up with “And that’s why I love you.”

I hear Natsuki sigh pointedly from behind us. I couldn’t care if I tried.

Instead of scolding me, Sayori giggles. “Gee, what was I so worried about? Things are still just like they were before.” Despite her reddening face, Sayori beams as she finishes that thought. “All we did was start kissing!~”

It’s true. She found plenty of excuses to kiss me yesterday. Usually to thank me for buying her something. And boy did I buy her things yesterday.

I’ll be feeling that expenditure for weeks, but seeing Sayori smile like that was worth every last penny. Especially with how much pain she was in the day before. It may be a temporary band aid, but it’s one that I’m proud to have been able to put there.

“Speaking of kissing, Sayori…” I say, a conspiratorial grin on my face. “I never did get payback for you pulling me into that kiss in front of-”

Monika cuts in with a pointed “Okay, everyone! It’s time to share p-”

**[SLAM]**

Someone throws the door to the classroom open, and everyone stops dead in their tracks when they hear the noise.

We all see a male student standing in the doorway, his posture limp. His glazed over, grey eyes stare into nothing. It looks like he tried to rip his collar off, but forgot what buttons were and just clawed it off with his fingernails. For a few heavy seconds, he just stands there, muttering gibberish to himself.

Monika is the first to break the silence. “Ahaha… Can we help you?” she says, glancing over to us with a highly uncomfortable smile.

My first instinct is to look towards Sayori and try to read her expression. She looks to me just as I do so. She’s obviously scared. We’re all a little scared, but something about the look in her eyes makes me think she’s looking for something from me. I think it’s reassurance she’s after.

I nod to Sayori “Yes, I’ll protect you.”

Sayori shakes her head. “I know you will. It’s not that…”

I raise an eyebrow, what else could it possibly be?

Despite my silence, Sayori can read me without the need for words. “I saw this guy earlier today…”

“Did he give you a hard time?” I ask. I swear if he did anything to my Sayori…

“No. That’s the thing, he didn’t do much of anything at all…” Sayori says. I feel my heart sink like a rock as I get what Sayori was trying to say.

“He’s one of the people who had the bug, isn’t he?”

Sayori nods again. If she’s right, this weird little flu going around might be something far worse than any one of us could have predicted.

“We’ll see how the other sick people are acting before we freak out, okay?” I say, trying to keep both of us calm. “For now, let’s just see how this turns out.”

As this goes on, the strange student seems more and more agitated. His quiet mumbling turning into a throaty moan of anger. Kind of like someone trying to gargle while doing a death metal growl.

Natsuki gets about halfway through asking “What the hell is your problem?” before the student lunges at Monika. Whatever’s wrong with him, I just know in the pit of my stomach that he’s going to try and kill her.


	2. Escalation, Improvisation

The dull-eyed student has Monika pressed against the teacher’s desk. He’s taking these wide, uncoordinated swings at her. Still making those gut-churning, throaty noises that no human being in their right mind would make.

Once the shock wears off, I run over to try and pry the guy off of Monika. All the while I wonder just what the hell this guy wants. If he had a score to settle with Monika, he’d have said something. If he just wanted her body, that would be obvious by now. Whatever his motivation, he’s proving incredibly difficult to grapple. It’s like he doesn’t even realize I’m there.

“MC, get clear!” Natsuki shouts. I was about to ask why, but when I look towards her to do so I answer my own question.

Or rather, the folding chair that Natsuki’s bringing down on the guy’s head does.

Chair and skull make contact with a crunching _[THWACK]_ that makes my stomach turn. The student crumples to the floor, but despite taking a blow that would have knocked anyone cold and left many comatose, he just gets right back up.

The student seems to be having even more trouble keeping his head up after the blow to the base of his skull, but he still manages to glare at Natsuki. And he’s not letting up with that throaty growl either.

This prompts Yuri to stand up and pull a grisly looking knife out of her bag. “You’ll stop this _at once_ , Shiro. Lest you give me reason to finally-”

“Shiro’s” eyes snap towards Yuri, and in an instant he’s upon her. They struggle for a moment, Shiro’s wild, maddened brute force against Yuri’s graceful, nimble dodges and precise placement of knife wounds. 

She practically dances around Shiro, knicking him with wounds that each bleed much more than you’d expect. Put them all together, and I begin to wonder how Shiro is still standing after all of that blood loss.

And what the hell is driving him to fight so furiously, for that matter.

By the time Yuri finally goes to cut Shiro’s throat, his blood has hit the classroom floor in amounts I fear might never be fully cleansed. Even still, Shiro throws punches for longer than he has any right to before finally collapsing.

The air hangs heavy for a moment, the four of us staring in slack-jawed disbelief as Yuri calmly wipes the blood from her knife and places it back in her bag. Almost as if she didn’t process what she’d just done.

Doing her best not to contemplate Shiro’s crumpled form, Sayori runs over to Monika to check her injuries.

My girlfriend's got the right idea. Who knows what that guy could have done to Monika? Especially if Sayori’s right about this flu that’s been going around...

“Monika...” Sayori has that look of almost motherly concern on her face. The same one I saw when we were kids. I would see it any time I’d managed to skin an elbow, or fall from too great a height for her liking.

“Ahaha, I’m fine, guys.” Monika says, rubbing her temple where a bruise was beginning to form.

Sayori shakes her head. “You’re bleeding. There’s some really nasty scratches on your neck.”

Monika puts her hand to the side of her neck. The blood on her fingers confirms what Sayori had to say.

I can already tell that Sayori’s going to try and treat Monika’s hurts, so I know what needs to happen next.

“I’ll grab some paper towels.” I say. And with that, I head right for the closet in the back.

Once I arrive back there, it all becomes a matter of finding what’s where. Every classroom in this school has one of these closets, but none of them keep their stuff in the same place.

How about the shelves against the back wall? No… Left shelves? No paper towels, but I do find a bottle of liquid hand soap. The next best thing to disinfectant, right? That tape will come in handy too.

Finally, on the right side and behind Yuri’s tea set, I find a roll of paper towels. I’d better grab two; just in case.

When I return, Sayori takes the soap from my hand and begins applying it to that first cut she’d pointed out.

“I’m fine, Sayori. You really don’t need to dote on me like this.” Monika protests. She keeps still regardless of her verbal protests.

“I’ve been telling her that for years, Monika.” I say. “When Sayori wants to take care of you, no force in the world can stop her.”

That gets a giggle out of Sayori. “Don’t run, Monika. Then I’ll just have to treat your exhaustion too.~” And then she just keeps on giggling as she presses the strip of paper towel against Monika’s neck.

“MC, you can handle the scratch on Monika’s cheek, right?” Sayori says, still giggling to herself. It must be a stress thing. It’s better to laugh than cry, right?

“Hey now. You want your boyfriend to feel up another girl’s cheek?” Monika says as I apply the hand soap.

“Hey. Sorry to break up the tender little moment and everything.” Natsuki’s voice cuts right through all of us. “But can we talk about the fact that we just, y’know, killed somebody?”

I watch all the mirth evaporate from Sayori’s face as she’s pulled back into contemplating our situation.

“Ahaha… That is pretty serious…” Monika says, with a humorless chuckle. 

Then I look back at Sayori. _man_ her mood’s done a 180. I can see her trying to get Monika’s attention.

“Guys?” Sayori begins, sounding almost like she was about to cry. “I think we might have a bigger problem than that.”

“What? I’m fine, right?” Monika asks.

Sayori shakes her head. “You’re okay. That’s not what I’m worried about.” She stops, looks at Shiro’s body, then at all of us. “This guy. Shiro… He had the bug that half the school had.”

You can see the realization dawning on everyone in the room just by looking at their faces. Monika’s horror at the idea is clear just from looking at her. Yuri’s face switches between relief and dread. Sayori just solemnly nods. Natsuki, however, almost looks like she takes offense to the notion.

“Hold on. You’re not trying to tell me that this little flu outbreak is the first day of the-”

Three more, looking just as feral as Shiro, slam themselves against the classroom door.

“Zombie… apocalypse.” Natsuki trails off as her attempt at denial crumbles before her.

Sayori’s hunch was right. Oh god, she was so horribly right.

For a moment I’m thankful that someone took the time to close the door after the whole Shiro debacle, but then I spot it. Oh, fuck me. One of the zombies is the _principal!_

“What do we do?” Natsuki asks, turning her gaze to Monika. The club president’s eyes lock on the window of the classroom door. I can see her trying to keep her composure well enough to make a decision.

“What do we _do!?_ ” Natsuki insists.

“Well we’re not staying here, that’s for god damn sure!” Monika snaps back. “Since you’re so damn eager for an answer, care to suggest _where?_ ”

Yuri, of all people, cuts into the rising argument. “We’ll head for my house.”

It’s a bit weird that _Yuri_ would be the one to break the stalemate, but maybe she just didn’t think anyone else would.

“It’s as good a plan as any” I say, shrugging.

“Okay everyone…” Monika says, seeming to remember that she’s supposed to be club president here. “Let’s get moving while that door’s still on it’s hinges…”

 _“Unarmed?”_ Natsuki asks, eyebrow raised.

Monika gestures to the folding chair that has a fresh dent in it.

“Well yeah, Yuri and I are armed, but what about everyone else?” Natsuki says.

At that, Yuri reaches back into her bag and hands me another knife. Possibly because I’m the closest to her at the moment.

Geez. How many of those does she carry?

After giving it a look over, I offer it to Sayori, but she shakes her head.

“I hate violence. You’ll have the heart to actually use it.” She says.

“I’m not leaving you defenseless, Sayori!” I protest.

“I’m not defenseless.” Sayori says, smiling that cancer-curing smile of hers. “I have you!~”

True. I’ll protect her as long as I can, but how long is that?

Natsuki opens her mouth to protest, but then the principal’s loose fist finally manages to shatter the glass on the door.

“Ah dammit, get moving!” Monika shouts. “I’ll grab something to protect myself on the way!”

Monika throws the _other_ classroom door open and we all book it. I don’t think I’ve ever sprinted quite as hard as this in my life. 

On the way to the stairwell, we pass a few more of the infected, but I notice that not all of them are running after us. Some of them are shambling instead. Maybe we won’t have to worry about _all_ of them. I just hope the runners aren’t coordinated enough to follow us down the stairs.

Even I’m surprised by how quickly we manage to reach the stairwell. If I’d made it through the halls this quickly any other day, I’d never have to worry about being late for class again.

Before we can make it to the stairs, a mass of panicked students rushes past us. One of the running infectees and at least a dozen shamblers are hot on their tail. I see the runner faceplant and crumple violently down the stairs like a sack of dried bone, but then it gets right back up, hobbling on a visibly broken leg.

A second later another runner slams its entire body into me. I feel it’s teeth graze my neck before I shove it back with my elbow. It’s right back on me in a second, but at least now I’ve got my face to it. 

Alright, what was the blow that seemed to take that Shiro prick down? The neck slice, right? I stab this one right in the throat, but they don’t even slow down. 

Even with the blood pouring from the fresh hole in their neck, they fight with the same ferocity. Only difference is they’re getting blood spittle on me now. 

A punch in the jaw makes them stumble back, so I can at least make them move. Maybe I can use that to my advantage.

When they try and pounce me again, I plant my feet, grab them by the wrists, and summon all of my sedentary might to throw them against the stairwell wall. 

Slamming their head against the wall and punching the blade through the side of their neck for good measure, I finally toss them down the stairs in hopes that they'll stay down long enough for us to make our escape.

The crowd‘s cleared by now, and the five of us take the stairs three steps at a time. But even that isn’t fast enough to reach the infected that had some poor girl pinned to the wall. By the time Monika puts it in a chokehold, it’s already bitten a gash out of the other girl’s arm and puked in it. That puking thing looked pretty deliberate.

I just barely manage to keep my own bile inside me. Needless to say, the rest of us grab the infectee and toss him down the stairs. I’m pretty sure all of us made a point of kicking him in the head as we made our way to the ground floor.

When we head down the ground floor halls and finally reach the front doors, we find that our biggest obstacle isn’t the infected, but our fellow students. Some absolute scumfuck has gotten it in his head to chain shut all but two of the doors.

“Two bucks and fifty yen per person!” He shouts. 

He’s got two pretty muscular looking cronies at each of his sides. The most shocking thing about this? People are _actually paying him!_ Some people rummage through their bags, others plead for the money needed for their passage. I think they call this the “Bystander effect”? “Mob Mentality”?

Whatever it’s called, Sayori isn’t letting it affect her. She makes her way up to Scumfuck; all but forcing me and the rest of the literature club to follow.

“How could you?” Sayori says, tears in the corners of her eyes.

Scumfuck just rolls his eyes. “The world’s about to go to hell, a man’s gotta make his money somehow.”

“But… they’re coming! If they can’t get out, then they’ll…” Sayori’s voice almost drops to a whisper. “They’ll _die_.”

“Two fifty for your life? Sounds like a steal to me!” Scumfuck says. God I just wish I could wipe that shit-eating grin off of his face.

I can’t sit by any longer. “And how do you plan on making _your_ escape, dipshit?”

The crowd begins to murmur amongst themselves, and the collective groan of the shambling infected grows louder.

“I push the door open and I run, duh.” He says. I notice that one of Scumfuck’s bodyguards shot him a dirty look.

“But these doors open inward. You’d have to _pull_ it open.” Sayori says. Seems a bit pedantic, but that does make me notice something.

“You think you’re going to be able to pull that door open when everyone here is pressing against them? Trying to get away from the infected?” I ask.

I can see Scumfuck is keeping his cool, but the guard who gave him the stink eye is looking even more agitated now. I think Sayori sees it too.

“You don’t really care about those two, do you?” Sayori asks, gesturing to Scumfuck’s two cronies.

Oh, _that_ got the bastard sweating.

“O-Of course I do!” Scumfuck protests. “They’re some of the most useful partners I’ve ever had.”

I see the bodyguard’s face twist in disgust at the word “useful”.

“Out of my way, punk.” One of Scumfuck’s guards says, shoving him out of the way and throwing the door open.

The rest of the crowd is quick to follow him. Some simply run for the hills, a few stop to thank or congratulate the guard, Sayori or even me for ending that guy’s little get rich quick scheme. The rest of us are quick to regroup. The great throng of humanity is dispersed, we’re back together, but there’s still an entire school filled with… can I really call them “zombies”? Behind us.

“Alright, Yuri.” Monika says, catching her breath. “Lead the way.”

With a wordless nod, Yuri takes to the front of the group; her knife out and at the ready all the while. 

But even as we all fight our way to Yuri’s house. I can’t take my eyes off of Sayori.

And not _just_ because I’m watching out to keep her safe. Even in the quiet moments, I feel my gaze draw towards her.

Despite the absolute bedlam around us, Sayori still goes out of her way to look out for everybody but herself. 

I lost count of how many times she shouted to get a zomb- er… _infected’s_ attention so that I could knife it from behind, or Monika could take them out with that lead pipe she found.

At one point we had to wade _back_ into a panicked human stampede because Sayori went back to pull a fallen man back onto his feet before he got trampled.

She even stopped in the middle of getting chased to kick in a burning car’s window so that the family trapped inside could escape. If Natsuki I hadn’t been there to fend off the zombies that were gaining on her, she would have been zombie chow for sure.

And as she does these things, she’s _still_ smiling that beautiful smile of hers. One part of me wants to say that that kind of cheerful selflessness is a beacon of hope for the future. A shining example of the mutual aid that defines human civilization.

But the other part of me is asking “Is she doing this in hopes of dying? Is she trying to make sure she spends her final moments helping someone?” Given what I learned about her the other day, I can’t shake the feeling that that might be her real motive.

I’ll be keeping a keen eye on her from now on.

By the time we reach Yuri’s house, the setting sun is almost covered by the smoke of burning buildings to the west. The usual walk home has been transformed into a gauntlet of ravening infected, terror-struck survivors doing _anything_ they can to survive, speeding road traffic that nearly took Monika’s head clean off, and the burning wrecks of vehicles that have already crashed; a few of them with freshly turned infected at the wheel.

As Yuri unlocks the front door of her home, the rest of us waste no time piling in and finding the first available seat to collapse on. Anything for a chance to catch our breath. When Yuri and Monika push a cabinet in front of the front door, _then_ I manage to relax.

“So Yuri, why did you suggest we come to _your_ house?” Sayori asks the question that was likely on everyone’s mind. The silence on Yuri’s end is deafening, or was it how loudly Yuri was blushing?

I’m just as clueless as everyone else. If she has something that would be useful or there was something about this house that would make survival easier, then why is she blushing? We’re going upstairs, where bedrooms tend to be. Is she planning what I think she’s planning?

As we ascend the stairs, a joke about taking all of us at once comes to mind, but I bite my tongue. A few steps down the hallway later, the lot of us are beginning to crowd Yuri’s rather tidy room. The only thing neater than Yuri’s impeccably made bed, or the pristine surface of her writing desk, has to be the glass cases in which Yuri keeps a dazzling array of knives.

Needless to say, we’re all taken aback by the knife cases.

“Geez, what do you need all of these for?” Natsuki says.

Sayori just stares at one of the cases with dumbstruck anxiety.

“Ahaha… I always wondered where you kept all of these things, Yuri.” Monika says, doing her best to mask her discomfort. Did Monika know about this? How?

I, for one, look over the display cases with a casual interest. It’s not much, but seeing that I’m not freaked out seems to be a massive source of comfort to Yuri. At least _someone_ isn’t judging her.

Yuri turns her back to us and approaches a Nightwish poster on her wall. I watch her poke it in what looks like a deliberate, complex sequence, and the section of wall that it’s on sinks in and slides to the right. When I get an eyeful of what’s on the other side, I learn that “a knife collection” was the wrong term for what Yuri has.

Try “a fucking arsenal”.

Besides some bigger bladed instruments, Yuri’s also got… I think that one rapper said “Like seven MAC 11s, about eight .38s nine 9s, ten MAC 10s, the shits never end!” Of course, I don’t know what any of those are besides “guns”, but the shits really don’t ever end in this room.

Seriously. She could arm the entire city block with this collection!

Before I can reclaim my jaw from the floor, Yuri speaks.

“I believe this answers your question, Sayori?” she says, her eyes welded to the floor.

“Yeah…” Is all Sayori manages, visibly uncomfortable in the presence of so much weaponry.

“It raises a lot more, though…” Monika says. Once again, Yuri cuts in.

“My parents don’t worry about my hobbies so long as I keep my grades up, yes, this is where most of my disposable income goes, it’s not a matter of need as much as desire, and yes. Everything here was obtained legally.” 

Yuri’s justifications come out with such clarity, such speed, that I get the impression that she’s been defending herself in her head for years now.

“Well, no sense looking a gift horse in the mouth.” I say.

Since everyone else seems to be getting more comfortable with the idea of this all, I can see Yuri finally look up from the floor, and even smile. “You’re all welcome to anything here, and to ask me any questions you may have.”

“I dunno... “ Natsuki says “I’m getting kind of attached to this folding chair h- oh _hello_ beautiful!”

Natsuki drops the folding chair the moment she sees a rather hefty looking greatsword. I think I recognize the manga that’s from, and I guess Natsuki does too.

Now, what should _I_ arm up with?

It’s surreal, really. I’m perusing a selection of blades and firearms as if it were the manga section of the library. Rifles, shotguns and swords hang from the walls on the same kind of pegboard that my dad keeps his power tools on in the garage. Handguns and knives rest on tables in the middle. Under the tables is more ammo than I ever thought I’d see in my life. Let alone all in one place!

Right as I put one of the pistols down, I see Sayori standing in a corner with her eyes welded to the floor. Knowing how much Sayori hates violence, I don’t imagine she’s too happy to be surrounded by weapons.

“Just let me know when everyone has what they want.” Sayori says.

“I was about to ask what you were going to choose.” I say. I already know the answer, but that just seems like the right way to open the conversation.

“You know I can’t stand hurting people, babe.” Sayori says, taking pause at the end of that sentence. It’s as if she’s stopping to see how the word “babe” tastes in her mouth.

“Hon, I hate to say it… but I don’t know if you’ll have a choice.” I say. “Hon” feels a little weird to say, but when I remember why I’m saying it I can feel a tinge of joy bubbling within me all over again.

“If I just stick with you guys, I’ll be fine, right?” Sayori says.

“Of course we’ll protect you.” I begin. It takes a hard swallow or two before I can find the wording and courage to state my fears. “But... what if you get separated from us? Like, if we’re in two different rooms and one of the doors gets blocked?”

The thought of not being able to save Sayori puts a painful knot in my gut. Asking this question makes it too easy to picture her surrounded by the infected. Or worse, uninfected who want to hurt her.

But that’s why I need to voice that worry now. Not when it’s too late.

I can see that thought start to sink in for Sayori, but instead of the pain and distress I was expecting, all I see is an uncharacteristic dullness behind her eyes.

“With the way the world’s going, that might be the best thing I can hope for.” She says.

Oh… _Oh_ no. This is even worse than her just not wanting to carry a weapon. She doesn't even have a will to survive right now.

“Sayori… is that raincloud back?” I ask.

She just wordlessly nods; her eyes still so painfully dull. I know now that she’s always dealt with depression, but seeing that lifeless look in her gaze is still so unthinkable, so _painful_. I’m ready to do just about anything to make it go away. Putting my hands on her shoulders and looking into those tired eyes is a start.

“We have each other, Sayori. We’re going to make it.” I say.

That doesn't seem to help. “We don't have a plan. We're just waiting to die.” she says.

She has a point. We _are_ kind of screwed without a long term plan. Then again…

“We only got to safety like 20 minutes ago. We have time to think something up.” I say.

Sayori nods; a gesture so slight as to be easily missed if you weren't watching. But at least I'm getting through to her.

“Good luck. I'd help. But what could a dummy like me come up with?” She says, unknowingly twisting a knife in my heart.

All those times I bantered with her and called her a dummy… Was she really taking it to heart?

“Sayori… I'm sorry. I had no idea that teasing hurt you so m-”

“No, you were right. I'm a real dummy, aren't I?” she says.

“Would a dummy have been able to come up with that whole cupcake ploy to get me to join the club? Or been able to talk down that jerk at the school’s front doors?” I say.

“But you’re the one who noticed that thing about the doors.” Sayori says.

“We kinda tag teamed him. I wouldn’t have-” Sayori’s dejected expression isn’t brightening. Maybe I should let this rest for now. “Look, if you don’t think you can help us come up with a plan, then you could help us buy time to come up with one. Help protect the place.”

Sayori sighs. I already know the answer to that suggestion.

“Y’know what? Let’s talk to Yuri. She’ll know what to give you.” I say.

I wave Yuri over, and I see her give Natsuki and Monika a “just a moment” gesture before she approaches.

“Yes?” She says.

“What would be the best choice for someone who wants to protect themselves non-lethally?” I ask, gesturing to Sayori.

Yuri thinks on that question a moment, repeating “protect themselves non-lethally...” to herself under her breath.

“There’s no guaranteeing that a blow won’t kill someone.” Yuri says, walking along the wall, as if browsing for something specific. “But I can offer the next best thing.”

Yuri hands Sayori an old fashioned shotgun. The kind you’d see a cowboy holding in a wild west movie. The kind that breaks open to load it and gets called a “Boomstick”.

“That… looks pretty lethal to me, Yuri.” I say.

“Ah- Well…” That remark seems to have made Yuri lose her nerve again. Now I just feel like a jerk.

“I’m sorry, Yuri. Please finish your thought.” I say. “You know better than I do.”

“Right…” Yuri takes a deep breath and recollects her thoughts.

“The good thing about a shotgun shell, Sayori, is that you can put just about anything you’d like in one.” Yuri says, holding up a shotshell where Sayori can see it. “Rubber rounds that act more like a particularly vicious punch than a bullet, magnesium shavings to create a streak of fire, door breaching rounds, or even just confetti.”

Sayori looks down at the shotgun once again. It looks like she’s just feeling the weight of it; getting familiar with the weapon that might just be hers now. I think she might be accepting the idea of carrying this thing.

And then I watch her raise the shotgun and put the stock _on top _of her shoulder.__

__Yuri sighs as she returns to the other two. “We’ve all much to learn, it seems.”_ _

__I know Yuri didn’t mean for that to be an insult, but I watch Sayori lower the shotgun again with a clear look of discouragement on her face._ _

__“I think you press that bit against the front of your shoulder, Sayori.” I suggest._ _

__“See? You’re already learning!” I say as Sayori tries my suggestion. “Oh, and one more thing.”_ _

__I walk up and plant a kiss right on her lips. “I love you. We all do.”_ _

__That got her to smile. A genuine, honest-to-god smile that immediately puts my heart at ease._ _

__I rejoin the group, and take a look at how everyone’s loadout is coming along. Natsuki’s holding a rather potent looking revolver and some kind of crossbreed of a shovel and an axe. On the blade, the letters “LOBO” have been etched. Whatever that means._ _

__Sayori looks up from inspecting that compact shotgun. The way she smiles at me reminds me of just how lucky I am to have her as a girlfriend _and_ a best friend._ _

__It also reminds me that I haven’t picked something out for myself yet!_ _

__Yuri’s got a katana sheathed on a belt around her waist, and now she’s explaining something to Monika regarding a rather old-looking rifle. I can hear Monika curse under her breath as her thumb gets caught in some part of the gun. While Yuri explains how to avoid “Garand thumb”, I simply get back to picking out my own weapon._ _

__Sayori’s shotgun is going to be a super close range deal, so maybe I should pick something with a little more reach. Those rifles up on the wall look like they have some reach to them, but those are the ones where you have to turn that handle after every shot. Maybe I should pick something a little more forgiving._ _

__Once I ask Yuri to direct me to an accurate, but quick gun, she sets me up with one of the rifles on the wall. This one has a lever that you use to reload, and she says it’s chambered for “.357 Magnum”. I vaguely recall that being a pretty powerful bullet, and she wouldn’t have given me a gun that doesn’t work, so no complaints from me. Once she’s taught me how to work it, I set to practicing._ _

__By the time Monika grabs everyone’s attention, I’ve just about got this whole lever-action thing on lock._ _

__“Okay everyone! It’s time to…” Monika’s usual confidence wavers in the face of what’s going on outside of these walls. “Time to figure out our next move...”_ _

__“Why don’t we just stay here?” I ask, my eyes scanning over the remaining weaponry. “We’ve got everything we need here, don’t we?”_ _

__“It’s well stocked, yeah, but it’s also in the middle of a city full of zombies.” Monika says._ _

__“That also makes it a prime target for looters.” Natsuki adds._ _

__“MC was just trying to help.” Sayori protests. I think she might be more upset about their counterpoints than I am._ _

__“Nah, it’s alright Sayori. Somewhere this populated might just get bombed by the army.” I say with a shrug. “In hindsight it was obviously a shit idea.”_ _

__“It was logical enough, MC.” Yuri says with a sigh. “Though I’m struggling to think of anywhere better to be. Where is there that we can be well sheltered, well armed _and_ a comfortable distance from the rest of society?”_ _

__Both Sayori and Yuri called me “MC” in the midst of a dead serious conversation about how to survive. So y’know what? Fuck it. If they’re _this_ committed to the “MC” joke, I guess I’ll just roll with it._ _

__There’s a look on Sayori’s face. Her dejection immediately erased by the eureka moment I can see on her face._ _

__“I have an uncle.” Sayori starts, before visibly struggling with how to continue that thought._ _

__“That’s nice. Totally irrelevant, but nice.” Natsuki says, earning her a few daggers glared in her direction. Not the least of which came from me. Couldn’t Natsuki see how close Sayori was to despair just 15 minutes ago?_ _

__“No! He… He’s been preparing for something like this for years! Lives in the woods in a…” Sayori trails off again. “In a… What did he call it?”_ _

__“A compound! He built a whole compound in case this exact thing happened!” Sayori finishes her thought._ _

__“Running water, electricity, everything?” Monika asks, met with Sayori’s enthusiastic nodding._ _

__“He’s even got wifi!~” Sayori says with a grin._ _

__Oh yeah! I think I met Uncle J before. He was that guy with the mullet I met when Sayori’s parents hosted a family reunion._ _

__“Well then! That sounds perfect!” Natsuki says. Even she’s smiling now. “And uh… sorry for being all impatient with you, I guess…”_ _

__I sure hope you are, Natsuki._ _

__“Any objections?” Monika asks. “No? Then it’s settled. Tomorrow we start heading for wherever Sayori’s uncle lives. Where is that anyway?”_ _

__“In the woods, off of this one highway by a stream…” Sayori closes her eyes and circles her fingers on her temples to remember every detail. “Right by mount… Mt. Amagoi!”_ _

__Monika nods as she takes the info in. “That’s about 30 miles from here...”_ _

__“We don’t have to do it all in one trip.” I say. “As long as we can find safe places to spend the night, we can go at our own pace.”_ _

__“True… But for now, we rest up.” Monika points to a window back in the normal part of Yuri’s bedroom. We all see that the sun set a long time ago._ _

__With that, we all begin to settle in for the night. Monika meditates and prepares every bit of research she can think of. Routes to Mt. Amagoi, online survival manuals, you name it. Natsuki sets to making dinner from whatever she can muster in the kitchen. Yuri preps the teapot and sets that aromatherapy device up again. Sayori’s first instinct is to gather everything she can think of for tending to wounds. I can’t help but be a little proud of her for her diligence._ _

__As everyone prepares for the coming storm, one thought dominates my mind._ _

__This is going to be our last night of something resembling normalcy, isn’t it? Our last night with a sturdy roof over our heads, a kitchen full of food, a shower with warm running water. Even our confidence that we’ll live to see tomorrow is soon to be in question._ _

__But I take a look over our little survivor band again. The way everyone finds what they’re good at and does it with all their heart; the way it all seems to synergize. If we can just keep it together, I think we can take whatever the world throws our way._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit longer than the first chapter, huh? That's why this took so long to release.
> 
> I'm also excited to announce that a DDLC mod version of this story is now in development! Be on the lookout for Doki Doki Outbreak, which we plan to release in an episodic format for the sake of the project not taking a decade to finish.


	3. Departure

I spend the night lying on some bunched up towels on the living room carpet. But after all the insanity that happened yesterday, it feels like I’m sleeping on the finest mattress this side of Honolulu.

I awaken to the sound of a news broadcast on the living room TV. Right at sunrise. Once I’ve blinked the sleep from my eyes and remembered where I was, I finally begin to hear what the news caster is saying.

“The death toll has now reached an estimated 70,000 and will only increase as the days go by.”

I watch Monika run a hand down the side of her head in disbelief at the death toll. The number makes my heart sink like a rock, but I force myself to keep listening for any useful information.

“Congress has convened an emergency session to vote on a quarantine of the Japanese archipelago prefectures; voting near unanimously in favor.”

“So they’re just _abandoning_ us!” Natsuki exclaims in a whisper. Monika raises her finger for silence, much to Natsuki’s chagrin.

“As we speak, the UP Navy Sixth Fleet is en route to drop supplies to the home islands by air. Including food, clothing and-”

“See? No abandonment.” Monika’s remark makes me miss the end of that sentence.

“Until then, citizens are advised to stay in their homes, conserve all available food and water, and not to open their doors for anyone but government officials.”

Welp, looks like we’re already breaking that rule.

“Research into the cause of the infection is ongoing, but a link has been confirmed with the bile of infected individuals.”

The three of us look at each other; all of us thinking of that poor girl in the stairwell. None of us have to say a word to convey what hindsight has put in our minds.

The arrival of Yuri and Sayori from down the stairs spares us from contemplating her fate too deeply. Thank god.

“Hey, what’s on the news?” Sayori asks, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“Any information that will aid our survival?” Yuri adds. 

Monika sighs. “Lots of people are dead. Japan’s been quarantined. They’ll be air dropping supplies, and don’t get puked on.”

That last remark puts a “well, duh” look on Sayori and Yuri’s faces.

“What she means is… is… you’ll, like,  _ die _ if you get puked on... By a zombie, that is.” I say. Good lord. That was the verbal version of trying to do a synchronized dance that nobody ever taught you. On stage.

“Monika? Is MC okay?” Sayori asks.

“No, what he just said is true. As crazy as it sounds.” Monika says, clearly _wishing_ that that was just crazy talk.

“As crazy as _he_ sounds…” Natsuki adds.

“That was uncalled for, Natsuki.” Sayori says.

Natsuki rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Gotta stick up for your  _ boyfriend _ .”

“Knock it off, you two.” Monika says. “The important thing is that it’s time to get moving. If you’ve got any final preparations, now’s the time.”

That seems to remind Yuri of something, since she immediately rushes back to her room for some reason. Yuri’s already furnished all of us with ammo, straps and holsters for our respective weapons, so that’s taken care of. We all forgot our backpacks at school, so we’ve all figured out our own ways of carrying our stuff. We have enough food and water between us to last about three days.

Hell. We even know what our first stop is. Yuri mentioned a konbini a few blocks away that will make a good place to rest.

So what did Yuri forget?

Yuri answers that question by coming back downstairs and handing Monika a leather jacket.

“Since you’ve taken charge, I suppose it’s only fair that I give you something that can fend off claws and bites.” Yuri explained.

Monika looks quite pleased with this new piece of protection as she looks it over.

That is, until she sees a 2 foot wide “Female Body Inspector” patch embroidered onto the back.

I’d describe the look Monika’s giving Yuri right now, but every time I try, I laugh too hard to get the words out.

“W-Well! That’s… It’s…”

“I stole it from Shiro!” Yuri finally blurts out.

Much to Yuri’s relief; that explanation seems to satisfy Monika, and she swaps her school blazer out for the leather jacket. She even lets out an “Ooh!” while she discovers more and more pockets on her new coat.

“You guys ready? ‘Cause I’m as ready as can be now!” Monika says. She certainly forgave Shiro’s crass tastes in a heartbeat.

“Lock and load!” Natsuki shouts, pulling back the hammer on her revolver.

“I’ve been waiting for this for years.” Yuri says, loosing her katana with the speed and grace of a samurai.

“We’ll be okay… We’ll be okay…” Sayori repeats to herself.

“Well, we have each other, right? That’s all I really need.” I say. I can tell by everyone’s faces that that came off as more corny than touching, but at least my bumbling raised spirits a little.

“Alright.” Monika says, loading a clip into that old rifle that Yuri gave her. “Konbini, here we come!”

I try and dramatically kick the door open, but quickly notice that it opens inward, so I just wind up standing there with my foot in the air.

“What? Waiting to squish a zombie leprechaun?” Natsuki says. I notice the other three watching me as I stand there; looking like I’m doing some sort of dumbassed crane pose.

“W-Well, I was _going_ to kick the door open, but…” I try to defend myself, but the more I think about it, the more I realize what a stupid idea that was to begin with. 

“So much for being a badass.” I think to myself.

With a defeated sigh, I just open the door like a normal human being.

So much for being a badass indeed...

I look out onto the street and see a dense, shambling _glut_ of infected choking the street in front of Yuri’s house. I don’t think I can see a single inch of pavement. Only her tiny front yard remains free of the crowd. Even then, a few zombies mindlessly wave their arms through the bars of her front gate.

“Father, Son and Amaterasu…” Monika says.

The rest of us just stare at the impenetrable mass before us in disbelief. Not only are we all wondering how exactly we’re supposed to navigate this, but I’m sure we’re all trying not to think about who anyone in this human clot was just 48 hours ago.

“I don’t think we can fight our way through that…” Sayori says. I can see the despair sinking into her expression already. I’d better make sure the conversation doesn’t end there.

“You sure you guys don’t want to just wait things out here?” I ask. Maybe that wasn’t such a terrible plan after all.

Yuri shakes her head “I’m afraid we can’t. Not for long, at least.”

Before I can ask why not, Yuri mimes an aircraft flying past, a bomb falling, and then the kaboom of it going off. Her sound effects even accounted for the doppler effect on the plane and the sound of the bomb not hitting the ears immediately.

Maybe a bit too much detail, but the point was made.

“Right…” I say, kicking myself when I remember that I was the one who suggested that possibility in the first place.

“So we can’t go, but we can’t stay here.” Natsuki says, resting her forehead in her palm. “Dammit!”

“Wait. Hold on, guys.” Monika says. “The streets are full of zombies, yeah. But that’s the _streets_.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” Natsuki groans.

“No! Look again. Look into the yard across from us.” Monika insists, pointing for emphasis. “See any zombies there?”

I follow Monika’s finger and look for myself. Lo and behold, anywhere that has a closed barrier between it and the street free of zombies!

“Good catch, Monika!” I say. If we can just stay away from the main roads, we’ll be fine!

“But we still have to cross the street, don’t we?” Sayori says, not looking _quite_ as gloomy as she did before.

“We don’t.” Yuri says.

Yuri beckons us to follow her with a gesture of her head. 

When we meet her in the backyard, we’re greeted by a sight much like other backyards in our city. It’s a long patch of lawn and greenery; surrounded on all sides by the houses and businesses of Yuri’s block. Each building forms part of the wall that secludes this island of green from the eyes and noise of the street. The whole of it is divided by fences of every type you can imagine.

And wouldn’t you know it? It was zombie free!

“Were it not for the.. well… ‘congestion’ of the street, we’d have simply taken a right at my front door until we reached Misuzu Street. But if we cut through here, we needn’t deal with them until we need to cross to Panaya Road.” Yuri explains.

“So we’re putting the fight off?” Natsuki asks.

“And abbreviating it.” Yuri says, already halfway over her backyard fence.

But when Yuri looks back at all of us, she seems to lose her confidence and gets back down. “That is… I’m sorry. I never confirmed if you were all in favor of this plan before I-”

“Yuri.” Monika cut in tersely. “It’s the best idea we have. You know the area better than us. It’s  _ fine _ . Now  _ move. _ ”

Yuri just looks at Monika like a kicked puppy before she goes back to hopping the fence. The rest of us are quick to follow. Monika makes it over without much of a struggle. Yuri nearly loses her footing on the wood planks before she makes it over. Natsuki needs a hand from Monika to reach the top, and Sayori and I both need someone to pull us over.

But hey! We’re all over the fence now. We’ve taken the first step of… a lot of steps to Uncle J’s place.

And I can’t think of anyone I’d rather go on this kind of trek with than Sayori. It’s a sappy thought, but I think she’s really starting to rub off on me.

But Sayori doesn’t look like she’s in much of a trekking mood. Really, she looks more like she’d have rather taken her chances with Yuri’s consistent, walled, amenity-having house. Perhaps it’s _my_ turn to brighten _her_ day.

“Hey.” I begin, gently nudging her. “Isn’t this just like all those little escapades we used to go on? Y’know, hopping the fence between our house, climbing trees in the park?”

“A little bit, yeah.” Sayori says. “But now we have to worry about all those sick people out to hurt us…”

I guess she isn’t totally convinced yet.

“I mean, at least it isn’t Mr. Himura.” I say with a smirk.

That gets Sayori to crack up. “That crabby old meanie… I bet he’s actually less scary as a zombie.”

We get to walking again, and come across a chain-link fence that’s much lower than the first one we scaled. I don’t think either of us will need help with this one. Sayori starts climbing over before I do.

“Hurry, MC!” Sayori calls, still grinning to herself. “Mr. Himura’s dogs are gonna get you!”

I play along, fake-huffing and jogging up to the fence while looking behind me. “Hey! W-Wait for me!”

I keep fake-jogging at the pace of someone accidentally moving forward while attempting to jog in place. 

“Come with me if you want to liiiiiiiive!” Sayori shouts, offering me a hand climbing over that I clearly don’t need. I practically throw myself over the fence to escape the imaginary dogs and land on the other side in a seated position.

Once I land, Sayori and I look into one another’s eyes. She starts laughing first, and I’m quick to follow suit. 

For a solid minute, the two of us just sit by that fence and laugh our asses off. Neither of us can even stand until we start to calm down.

“Alright.” I say, still coming down from that gigglefit. “The others are probably wondering where we are, and what’s so funny. Let’s get moving.”

I stand first and offer my hand to Sayori. But instead of just taking my hand, she just looks at me in stunned surprise.

“Something wrong?” I ask.

Sayori shakes her head. “It’s just… you used to just pull me up by the shoulders and dust me off. Now you’re… you’re…”

Come to think of it, I do kind of look like a Meiji era gentleman helping his lady into a stagecoach right now. Eh, screw it. Might as well go the whole nine yards.

“Well, things are a little different now. Aren’t they, my dear lady?” I say, with a playful smile.

Sayori blushes profusely as she takes my hand and lifts herself up. There’s something special about being able to make her feel like a princess even while we’re on the run from the living dead.

“They are a little different.” She admits. “But some things will always stay the same.”

“Like what?” I ask.

“You may be my boyfriend now, but I betcha _still_ can’t outclimb me!” Sayori runs for the maple tree whose branches hang over the next fence.

“Hey! No fair!” I shout, hot on Sayori’s heels. Gee, am I eight again? It sure feels like it.

And just like when I was eight, I’m eating Sayori’s dust. She’s already a quarter way up the tree! Now that she’s grown into her full adult size, it’s even easier for her to find her next foothold and gain more height. Even having a shotgun slung to her back doesn’t seem to be slowing Sayori down. There’s no way I’m even coming close.

I don’t know if this is just me being a sore loser, but while I’m languishing on the lower branches, I notice that this maple spills over into the two yards on each side of it. If I can just navigate these branches, I can get closer to the rest of the group. I’m better at climbing branches than I am fences, after all.

“MC? MC!” Sayori shouts, her head poking up from the top of the tree. “Where’d you go?”

I wave my arms to get her attention from the ground. “You win! Now let’s get back on the move!”

I can see Sayori pout as she starts climbing back down. It takes her a few minutes, since getting down is definitely harder than going up, but she manages to get all the way down to the ground without anything worse than some tiny scratches.

“Spoilsport…” Sayori grumbles. My smile seems to make her even more annoyed. Should I tell her how cute she is when she’s pouting?...

“God. You’re so cute when you pout like that.” I say.

Sayori punches my arm. “Stooooop!”

I just grin even wider. “Make me~”

“Fine. Call mom and tell her when we’ll be coming in for dinner instead.” Sayori says, crossing her arms at me.

Without even thinking, I reach for my phone before reality comes at the back of my head like a whip. “...Oh. Right.”

I can see reality coming back for Sayori too. After all the fun we just had, I can’t stand to see her start to lose that smile again.

“Wait! Speaking of phones, do you have Uncle J’s number? It’d be nice to let him know we’re coming.” I say.

Sayori’s face brightens right back up. “Good idea!”

Sayori pulls out her phone and stars scrolling through her contacts. She reaches the end and I can tell by the way her shoulders start to droop that his number isn’t in there.

“Ah well. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you in any case.” I say, ruffling her hair.

“Hey! I’m your girlfriend, not your dog.” Sayori says.

An idea pops into my head, and I really hope it’s as smooth in reality as it is in my head.

“Does that mean I should kiss you instead?” I ask.

First Sayori jumps in surprise, then she blushes profusely. Finally, she gives me a coy grin.

“That would be lovely~” she says.

I brush the hair from Sayori’s face, look deep into her eyes, and pull in for the-

“Sayori! MC! Where the hell are you?” Natsuki calls.

Eh, they can wait a minute or two. I look back to Sayori and pull her face close to mine. And thus, Sayori and I share our first kiss. It was a late morning in the backyard of some total, possibly dead, stranger. In the midst of the zombie apocalypse.

If we make it out of this, that’ll be a fun bar story.

I open my eyes and pull away from Sayori’s wonderfully soft lips. The two of us can’t help but giggle from the excitement of finally doing that.

“Alright, let’s not keep them waiting much longer.” I say.

We regroup with the others in a fenced off alleyway. Thanks to Natsuki hacking away at the last few fences with her Lobo, the rest of us were spared having to climb over.

“Okay, that’s everyone. Let’s get moving.” Monika says. But when she goes to open the door in front of her, Yuri stops her.

“If you don’t mind, we’ll… Let’s go a few doors down, to your right. We’ll need to close every inch between us and Panaya Road we can.” She says.

“It is pretty quiet right now, but you’re right. Who knows how long that will last?” Monika said. “Take the lead, Yuri.”

Something changes in Yuri. The same thing that changed when she insisted on reciting her poem next. Whatever prompted it, Yuri gets that serious, confident look in her eye as she leads us to a few doors to the right. She even draws her pistol and looks down the sights as she moves. Something about seeing that gets me thinking, and I instinctually aim  the Winchester at the area behind us. I’ve played enough online shooters to know that it’s a good idea to guard the sightlines that your teammates aren’t.

“Clear!” I hear Yuri call from behind me. Sounds like my cue to get indoors.

I’m the last of the five to enter, and I close the door behind us. When I turn around and get a look at my surroundings, I find myself in a commercial grade kitchen. All of the lights are working, except the three shattered ones. Pots, pans and condiments can be found just about everywhere but where they’re supposed to be. People really turned this deli upside down last night, huh? Still, Natsuki starts scouring the kitchen for any useful foodstuffs.

Through the shattered glass of the counter’s display window, we finally lay eyes on Misuzu Street. There’s a surprisingly small number of zombies out there, but I quickly remember that we can only see a small sliver of the whole road. I can’t quite make out what the building across the street is. My best guess is some kind of office building.

“Alright. So what’s the plan now?” I ask nobody in particular.

“It looks like we could run across.” Sayori says, a glint of hope in her eyes.

Monika shakes her head. “They’ll be on us the second they know we’re here. We’ll have to fight a few of them at least.”

Before anyone else can remark, Natsuki cuts in with a “Tadaa!~”

She holds up a half-empty bottle of ponzu sauce and a can of Spam. “The scavenger extraordinaire does it again! You’re welcome.~”

“ _Natsuki._ ” Monika snaps in a harsh whisper. “Pipe down, the zombies are _right there!_ ”

I can see Natsuki about to snap back, but the mention of nearby zombies makes her reconsider.

“Hmph.” Is all the response Natsuki gives.

“It’s okay. You didn’t know.” Sayori says. The consoling hand Sayori put on her arm seemed to be enough to get Natsuki to focus again. “Now, how do you think we should cross, Natsuki?”

Thanks for the little reminder of why I love you, Sayori.

”Can’t we just shoot those two guys in front of the door and go?” Natsuki asks, already pulling out her revolver.

“I guess that would work. Then we just shoot any of the others that show up.” I say.

“Sounds like a plan, then.” Monika says. “But who does the shooting?”

“Why don’t we all? Then we can be sure they go down, and we can all get a feel for our weapons.” Yuri suggests.

“Alright. We’ll take them out Napoleon style.” I say, already  shouldering the lever action.

“On a count of three...” Monika says, shouldering her own rifle.

_ 3... _

_ 2... _

_ 1... _

**[BOOM]**

**[EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…]**

The two zombies are blown away by the volley, but so are my eardrums. The kick from the  rifle isn’t _quite_ as bad as I thought it’d be, though. Less of a sucker punch, more of a harsh shove.

But we’ve got bigger problems than earaches. Turns out, the zombies are attracted to loud noises. You know, like five firearms going off at once. Two zombies are down, fifteen are now approaching us. Some of them are runners.

“Shit,  _ shit!” _ Natsuki fires her revolver again. She shakes out her wrist and curses to herself immediately after.

Monika’s Garand drops two shamblers with a single shot, but she goes a little overboard and winds up emptying her entire clip at the runners. Now she has to deal with that tricky reload.

Sayori is seated with her back pressed against the deli counter; frozen solid with terror.

Looks like it’s down to me and Yuri.

I start firing wildly into the mass of shamblers. Then I hear the click of an empty chamber. A runner pounces at me from over the counter.

I keep hitting him with the rifle butt, but he hits me harder with his fists. Right as his teeth get a grip on me, Yuri lops his head clean off. A single, graceful arc of her katana sends the runner’s head chomping ineffectually to the floor.

But all that just gave the shamblers time to close in. While Yuri fires her pistol into the approaching mass, I have just enough time to get a few more bullets in the Winchester. Just shy of a full tube, but it’s enough.

With my rifle loaded and the hammer cocked, I’m back in the fight.

Natsuki and Monika’s slow, punishing shots, paired with Yuri’s quick cherry-tapping pistol rounds only just holds the mob back. But the next seven rounds off of my Winchester come out at a blistering speed that shocks even me. Needless to say, I’ve shattered the stalemate. As well as quite a few zombie heads.

And just like that, the infected wave is now a small hill of bodies on the deli floor.

“Holy shit…” I say, finally lowering my  rifle.

“We… We did it!” Natsuki shouts, raising her Lobo in triumph.

About halfway through our first round of high fives and fistbumps, we hear the throaty roars of another hundred infected bearing down on us. It sounds like it’s coming from both sides.

Monika and I stand and stare at each other, both of our hands still frozen in the air for a high five that never happens.

Before any of us can even say “Oh shit”, half a dozen runners come rushing into the cafe. Shit, I’m still empty from the last fight!

I guess everyone else is too, because the other three have their melee weapons out. That’s what shakes me into remembering. “Reload! _Reload!_ ”

A runner comes at me from around the counter. This time I’m ready, and I plant my foot on his chest to pin him in front of the cash register.

Of course, that does nothing to stop him from clawing the shit out of my leg. Every time I remember a step in the reloading process, the zombie damn near breaks my knee with his fist. Each blow hurts enough to make me lose focus. Once he pukes all over my ankle, the close brush with infection finally makes me realize something.

Wait a second, two shots in the chamber is plenty right now!

If the runner noticed me shouldering the rifle again, he didn’t seem to care. He winds up for another attempt to break my knee, and I put a round of .357 magnum through his head.

The zombie goes limp under my bruised, bile-stained leg. I look up in time to see  Yuri twirl the blood from the blade of her katana. I look to my left, I look to my right. I don’t see any more runners attacking us.

“That’s the last of them, then?” I ask.

The closing mass of shamblers answer my question for me. Not with words, but with the collective sound of their groans.

Monika hops over the counter and starts dashing across the street. Natsuki isn’t too far behind. I join them, but stop when I see that Yuri’s still got her feet planted. When she looks down to the floor, I realize what she’s looking at.

_ “Sayori!” _

I rush back behind the counter to find Sayori still frozen with terror. Our eyes meet, but she’s hyperventilating too hard to speak to me. Words aren’t going to do any good here. I just throw my arms around her and start running for the other side of the street. I know I’m leaving myself totally defenseless. But if that’s what I have to do to save the one person who knows me best, the girl I _love_ , it will be done.

Thank god I’m not fighting alone. Monika and Natsuki fire shots at any zombie that looks like it’s getting too close. Even at their own peril. It’s not like the horde isn’t closing on them too.

Yuri takes up the rear. A stray runner comes at us in the direction we’d just come from, but Yuri’s bladesmanship makes short work of that one. A few broad arcs sever hands that get too close to Sayori and I.

I only realize that I’ve crossed the street alive when my shoulder brushes against Monika’s. Natsuki tries the hard oak front door, but it refuses to open.

“Sayori! The door!” Natsuki shouts. That was all she had time to say before another zombie closed into Lobo range.

Sayori’s eyes flash with realization at what Natsuki was asking of her, and she raises her shotgun at the door’s handle. The blast doesn’t go all the way through, but it makes a big enough dent that we can smash our way to the other side of the door handle.

Monika throws the door open with a “GO! GO! _GO!_ ”

We go, go, go alright. Even though we slammed the office door shut behind us, we know it isn’t going to hold. So we go, go, go. All the way to the second floor. Then we realize that will just trap us. So we just keep going until we’re on the roof of the building next door to the office.

Only then do we dare to try and catch our breath.

Monika braces her hands on her knees. Looks like she’s still got some fight in her. The rest of us? We practically collapse when we realize that the immediate danger has passed. Now that the rush of adrenaline is gone, I notice that my vision has gone fuzzy from the exertion, and how my heart is pounding incessantly in my ears.

“Any…” Sayori abandons that sentence when she finds that one word took all the air in her lungs. It takes her another five ragged huffs to try again. “Any-” [pant] “one-” [pant] “injured?” Sayori finally asks.

“Pants got puked on, but… “ The air is entering and leaving my lungs too quickly for me to say anything. So I just lean my head back on the air exhaust unit I’ve propped myself up against. Oh god… Ah fuck…

“You’ll be fine.” Monika says. I’m not sure if she’s finishing my sentence for me or reprimanding me for perceived weakness. 

We all just sit there; too weak to even stand. Through my dulled vision, I watch a shambler lazily wave her arms from the roof we jumped from. Eventually, she leans forward just an inch too far and plummets into the alley between us.

Thank god. If she’d made it over, Monika would have been on her own in fending her off.

By the time we’ve all recovered, I see that the sun has passed its apex in the sky. At the same time, I notice some pretty serious looking clouds blowing in from the east.

I begin to pull some food out of my improvised pack, but Monika stops me.

“We’ll eat when we get where we’re going” She insists. “Now let’s _go_. We’ve wasted enough time, you big babies.”

“Well excuse _us_ , miss track star!” I hear Natsuki say under her breath. Nonetheless, the rest of us pull ourselves to our feet to keep moving.

Once Yuri gets us moving in the right direction, we continue crossing over the rooftops in silence. We only encounter a handful of easily disposed of infected up there, but the zombies aren’t what’s bothering me right now. It’s the silence.

Seriously. We just passed the intersection between Misuzu and Panaya, and none of us have said a word. Monika’s keeps her back to us as she leads the way, and I can see Natsuki trying to scowl a hole into the back of Monika’s skull. Yuri doesn’t watch Monika with _quite_ as much contempt, but I can tell she’s wondering what horrible things Monika is saying about her in her head.

Sayori attempts to start up a pleasant conversation a few times. She even tries to get us to sing.  I make a half hearted attempt to join in,  but the pointed silence  from everyone else quickly snuffs out these attempts to lighten the mood. This means I spend the next half an hour alone with my thoughts.

When I’m not navigating a gap between two buildings, I get a few moments to appreciate the view up here. I never did get to see my home city from the rooftops before. Then again, I’ve never seen it with half of the towers downtown burning either.

Speaking of fire, I can see smoke rising all over town from this vantage point. It makes me wish I could have come up here _before_ everything went to hell. If it weren’t for the reason  _ why _ we were up here, and the tense air around us right now, it would almost be romantic.

Maybe once this is all over with, I’ll bring  Sayori up here with me. Maybe on top of my house. Then we can just enjoy a sunset together. Maybe bring a bottle of wine up with us and enjoy one another’s company. On second thought, Sayori doesn’t seem like the kind who would like being drunk.

But there’s no guarantee I’ll even live to find out if she does. Now I’m real glad we managed to check “have our first kiss” off the bucket list. As sappy as it sounds, I think our love might just be what we need to keep one another going. After all, it’s what drove me to risk my life to save hers. I can only hope she’ll have the courage to do the same.

Right as I finally get roof hopping down to a science, Yuri stops us.

“We’ve made it.” She says. “Now it’s simply a matter of getting down from here.”

Thankfully, there’s an openable skylight on the roof for us to enter through. At least _something_ was simple and straightforward today. What’s better, the skylight lets us land on top of a display with a flat top. None of us have to risk dropping a full story to get to the floor.

While I’m lowering myself down, I’m already dreaming of how hard we’re going to feast on the contents of this konbini. Gyudon cheesesteaks, sushi, hot dogs galore!

But then I see about 200 people had that same idea last night. The front windows have been shattered, and there’s barely anything left inside but shrapnel and sauce packets. The other four drop down one by one, and I see the disappointment grow in each one’s face as they see how thoroughly the place has been ransacked.

“Well, at least it’s still a safe place to sit down and eat.” Sayori says.

“Though… There’s far less to eat here than I was anticipating.” Yuri says. “I’m so sorry. It was so stupid of me to think there would be anything-”

Sayori pulls Yuri into a quick hug. “It’s okay. You were just trying to help. Besides, it’s not like we don’t have our own food!”

Sayori’s always had a contagious smile. Even Monika seems a little less angry after seeing that.

“Okay everyone.” Monika says. “Let’s throw together some lunch, plan our next move, and then we can get back to-”

A thunderclap shakes the floor of the konbini, and a heavy rain isn’t far behind. Monika flips through her phone, and then growls in frustration at what she sees. “Nevermind. We’re staying the night. Let’s get something between these windows and us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took a bit longer to publish than the others. I've got a handful of beta readers on board now, and I wanted them to look this all over before it got published.


	4. Family

It’s no honeymoon cabana, but after we barricade the shattered windows in the front of the konbini, it provides far more comfort than any of us would have expected.

It poured through the night, but once we had the skylight closed, the konbini kept us nice and dry. The power grid’s still holding, so we had access to a microwave and a space heater. The microwave was a real MVP. I don’t think I could have eaten that weird stew of ramen noodles, ponzu, ketchup and spam cold. But after three separate close brushes with death on Misuzu Street, I’m glad to eat anything warm and vaguely nourishing.

After eating a stew like that, I can see why Natsuki wanted to go and do some scavenging. But I also get why Monika practically grabbed her by the collar and told her no. It  _ was _ raining hard enough to float Noah’s Arc out there. And we don’t have any changes of clothing her size, let alone anything to keep the rain off.

Sayori checked everyone over for injuries. That is, after wolfing down two helpings of weirdo stew. I wasn’t until I poked her forehead and pointed to the stain on my pants leg that she remembered what needed to be done.

Once Yuri had all of her wounds looked over, the very first thing she did was pull that atomizer out of her kit and start filling the konbini with the scent of chamomile. I didn’t even realize how tense and afraid she looked until the chamomile started to relax her.

With her cuts cleaned, her belly filled and somewhere to relax, even Monika started to come down from her sour mood. Before we knew it we were all chatting away, and even complimenting each other on the teamwork we managed back at Misuzu Street.

Once we’d talked away what little energy we had left, we made beds for ourselves out of the contents of the store’s magazine rack and went to sleep. Maybe we should have set shifts to keep watch, but hey. Hindsight is 20/20.

_ Man _ I wish this morning was as pleasant as last night.

I sit up from my bed of Home-Improvement Illustrated and almost scream from the cramping pain that shoots up my leg.

“Hooooly shit!” I groan, marveling at how that exclamation started life as a yawn.

“What’s wr-” Yuri starts. Given the way she winced and braced her back, I’m guessing she’s figured out what’s wrong first hand.

Looks like everybody is waking up in pain. Natsuki is struggling to even sit up.

Sayori grimaces, walks her own pain off and kneels at Natsuki’s side.

“What hurts?” Sayori asks, offering a hand for Natsuki to pull herself up by.

Natsuki’s response comes out hoarse and breathy. “God…  _ everything _ .”

Monika looks up from her phone as she hears this exchange. “Is it really that bad?”

“ _ Yes. It is. _ ” Natsuki snaps back.

With a lingering, hurt look. Monika just looks back at her phone. I see her lips move, but I don’t catch what she said.

“So, uh… In other news...” Monika begins. “They figured out that the virus spreads from contact between zombie puke and open wounds, and despite a rash of infections in Los Angeles, the army air drops are due to start tomorrow.”

The news seems to lift everyone’s spirits. Even the information about how the virus spreads. At least now we know exactly what to avoid.

“Hold on a second. How did you find that out?” I ask.

“You guys didn’t figure it out? Power’s still on, and so is the konbini’s wifi router.” Monika says.

We’ve had wifi the whole night!? Everyone who has their phone on them immediately pulls it out. Myself included.

“If the wifi still works…” Yuri says, even more hope shining in her eyes than before. ”Then the cell phone towers are likely to still be functioning as well.”

We all seem to have the same thought at once. That thought being “I have to call my parents.”

I pull out my own phone, only to be greeted with a blank screen and a dead battery. Damn it all!

I only hear one half of Sayori’s conversation.

“Mama, it’s Sayori! I’m okay!”

…

“I’m with some friends on the way to Uncle J’s place. Where are you? Is dad there?”

…

“I’m… really glad to hear that. You can use my room and the stuff in it for anything you need to, okay? I won’t be in there for a while.”

…

“It’s my friends from the literature club.”

…

“Mhm! Him too! And guess what…”

Sayori stage whispers into the receiver.

“We started kissing!”

I can just about hear Sayori’s mom’s excitement from here.

“I know, right? It finally happened!”

Sayori giggles to herself while her mom speaks.

“He always has, hasn’t he? And he still is~”

I can only hope they’re talking about something good.

…

“I’ll keep in touch. I love you, mama. Tell dad I love him too!”

Yuri and Monika  end their conversations not long after Sayori.

With her own conversation over, her eyes turn to the other members of the group.

“Hey, Natsuki. Aren’t you going to call anybody?” Sayori asks, watching Natsuki tap away at her phone.

Natsuki rolls her eyes. “Not my dad. That’s for sure. The drunk old prick can  _ rot _ .”

The rest of us exchange looks. Monika gives us a solemn, knowing nod.

“So… with that out of the way...” Monika glances one more time at Natsuki. It’s almost looks like she’s trying to make sure Natsuki’s okay. “I think I figured out where to go next.”

Monika beckons for us all to gather around her phone. On the screen is a road map of the area between us and Mt. Amagoi.

“We’re here, and there’s a metro line just a block away from us.” Monika says, gesturing along the line with a finger. “Once we get there, that’s an elevated, unobstructed path west that’ll get us halfway there. I think we could make it in a day if we push ourselves.”

Push ourselves, huh? I try and make my groan as quiet as possible. I can tell Yuri and Sayori aren’t thrilled by the idea either. But Natsuki? Natsuki’s more than ready to voice her thoughts.

“Oh,  _ suuuure _ .” Natsuki says. “Just let me draw from my bottomless reserves of stamina. Exhaustion? Muscle tears? What on earth are those?”

Monika gives everyone an incredulous look. “Am I really the only one who was taking care of themselves before all this? Just because we’re a little sore doesn’t make us need to move any less.”

Right as Natuski is about to say something back, Monika makes for the front door and holds it open for us. “C’mon, you wimps! We’re burning daylight!”

“Hey, Sayori.” I whisper. “Is it just me or has Monika gotten way nastier since this started?”

Sayori nods. “I keep wanting to ask her why she’s being so mean, but I’m too scared.”

“With the way she’s been acting, I don’t blame you.” I say.

Once everyone’s got their gear back together, we head out the front door. We’re greeted by the morning sun, empty streets, and a cluster of about twenty soaked, thoroughly rained on zombies. I think I see a rail bridge behind them, but they’re completely blocking the way to it. At least they haven’t noticed us yet.

“Yeah, we’re not sneaking past that, are we?” I remark, keeping my voice low.

“It shouldn’t be a difficult fight, however. Not compared to yesterday.” Yuri says.

“Just don’t shoot all at once this time, please.” Sayori adds, one hand already poised to plug her ears.

“Let’s just get this over with quick.” Natsuki says. “This gun hurts my wrist almost as much as it hurts their faces.”

I raise my Winchester  at the cluster, keeping the sights on the toughest looking  zombie’s head. “Ready when you are.”

“What, were you waiting for an order or something?” Monika says. “Ugh. Just shoot em’.”

I shoot first, and the bullet  lands right where I aimed it. The others follow suit in their own time, but what surprises me is the booming report from Sayori’s shotgun. Wait. Did she aim at the lamp post?

The second shot confirms it. As the Lamp post leans precariously to the left, I get an idea of what she was trying to do. There were more runners in that cluster than I was hoping there would be. There’s no way we’ll be able to drop them all before they get too close.

Monika, Natsuki and I manage to take another five of the runners out before they’re in melee range. And of course, Yuri’s katana comes out with the deadly grace we’ve come to expect.

She’s good, but she’s not seven-versus-one good. But we can’t exactly shoot into the cluster either. We can’t afford a gunshot wound right now. Especially not on our best fighter.

But there are more ways to get these zombies off of her than shooting them, right?

I run forward and start jumping in place, gesturing to myself at the crowd of infected.

“Hey! Hey! Over here! C’mere!” I yell. “Follow me! All you can eat, you bastards!”

To the surprise of no one, the zombies follow after me like I’m some kind of limping, raspy-voiced Pied Piper of the dead. And more importantly, the crowd isn’t surrounding Yuri anymore.

But that just means I’ve got three runners bearing down on me now.

A headshot from Monika kills one, and a meatshot from Natsuki makes the other stumble, but one gets through to me completely unscathed.

I don’t even have time to shoulder my Winchester before the third runner crashes into me. I make the mistake of trying to brace for impact on my injured leg, and feel it give out from under me.

The pain of my battered leg briefly distracts me from the pain of this runner sending her fists into the side of my head. One of the blows to my head must have jogged my memory, because I recall the knife that Yuri gave me back in the classroom.  


I pull it off of my belt and start wildly stabbing at the runner’s torso. She bleeds profusely from her new wounds, but the runner keeps pummeling my skull. Might not walk away from this one without a concussion. 

If I could just get back to my feet I could stab something more vital. But it would be hard enough to stand without her beating me about the head.

One of the power lines above us blows a fuse. It doesn’t electrocute any zombies, but the noise gets their attention. Including my assailant.

I watch Sayori lower her shotgun and give me a thumbs up.

With a groan, I rise to my feet and drive the knife directly into the runner’s spine. I try and lift a foot to kick her off of the blade, but I can’t seem to raise my injured leg that high. A harsh shoulder check does the job instead.

I take a look at the others through my swimming vision, and see that the cluster of soggy zombies is no more.

A few other zombies are approaching the commotion, but the runners are easy enough to pick off, and the shamblers won’t arrive until lunchtime.

But god DAMN am I feeling every single blow. Even the ones from yesterday. Not even I know how I haven’t already passed out.

I can’t even cheer or talk about how we totally whooped their asses right now. All I can do is sigh. The kind of exasperated sigh you let out when you find out that you actually get off work three hours later than you expected. None of us even bother to say. “Let’s keep moving.” We just do. Everyone wants to get out of the streets as quickly as possible.

Too bad “As quickly as possible” still feels like an eternal slog. All we can do is put one weary foot in front of the other. The sun beats down on the waterlogged, puddle-ridden streets and onto our miserable faces.  


One foot in front of the other...

Our sweat can’t even do its job, thanks to the humidity…

One foot in front of the other…

The streets are really starting to smell. The spilled contents of neglected garbage cans are marinating in rainwater; being slow baked by the sun. Not to mention the motionless body in that alleyway. I think that one’s been there a while.

One foot in front of the other...

It feels like I’m breathing in swamp ass and breathing out chunks of my very soul.

One foot in front of the other…

When we reach the rail bridge, we quickly realize that there’s no way to access the tracks from here. The nearest station is  _ another _ block away. You know the drill...

One foot in front of the other…

One foot in front of the other…

One foot in front of the other…

Natsuki collapses onto the bench of a bus stop. Sayori is kind enough to give her some water from the Calpico bottle she’d been carrying her water in. Leaning her head back, Natsuki just lets the lukewarm sink water fall into her mouth.

Once she’s recovered, we get moving again. Though, with our pace, “moving” almost sounds like too generous of a term for it.

One foot in front of the other…

With how far my back is hunching, it almost feels more appropriate to start crawling. I glance over to see how Sayori’s doing. I have a personal rule: If Sayori can’t keep smiling in a given situation, nobody can.

Sayori isn’t smiling. She tries to force one when she sees me looking, but we can both tell it isn’t genuine. I appreciate the effort, but it’s just too hot for that. Seeing that the smile isn’t helping, Sayori offers me some of her water instead.

“Thank you.” I groan, as she tops off the reusable water bottle I got at that one pep rally.

One foot in front of the other…

One foot in front of the other…

“Hey… There it is!” Monika says. Just having the station in sight is enough for me to stand up a little straighter. We’re almost there! And they have benches in there! And shade! And vending machines!

Onefootinfrontoftheother onefootinfrontoftheother onefootinfrontoftheother!

My calf muscles feel like they’re going to explode, but I ignore them as I rush up the motionless escalator and into the station.

They have benches to crash on, and the vending machines are still intact, but the roof is all glass. You know how a car gets hot when sunlight goes through the windows into the cabin? Imagine that, but in a room the size of a small retail outlet.

Nevertheless, our cramping muscles need somewhere safe to give out on us. So we all collapse onto the bench nearest to us.  Sayori and I wind up leaning against each other. The only difference between this and the rest of our relationship is that now we’re  _ literally _ propping one another up. If anyone wants to make a cute remark about it, I probably won’t even hear them over the sound of my heart and lungs coming down from overdrive.

I watch Natsuki pull herself to her feet a minute later and approach a vending machine. By some miracle, the vending machines in this station are completely intact, but the lights aren’t on.

“Anyone got any spare change?” Natsuki asks.

“Considering the lights are off, I’m  _ pretty sure _ they’re not working.” Monika flicks a dollar coin off her thumb towards Natsuki. “But fine. Whatever.”

Natsuki catches the coin with a speed and ease that I never would have expected. Then she tries to put it through the machine’s coin slot. Just as Monika predicted, it won’t go in. The vending machines are dead as a doornail.

Natsuki sends her Lobo right through the glass.

“WHAT THE F-” Monika jumps to her feet. “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?”

“Surviving.” Natsuki says, stuffing as many bags of snacks and candy bars into her pockets and pack as possible. “Do you really think I’m just going to let a big case of unclaimed food go unopened?”

“All of these machines were perfectly intact before you did that. I’m not going to let this club turn into a band of looters.” Monika says.

Natsuki rolls her eyes. “That kind of thinking is for people who  _ don’t _ have a bunch of slobbering dead people trying to kill them every five minutes. Do you want to eat or not?”

Monika tries to respond, but I can see that she's too annoyed and tired to form a sentence. So she just pinches the bridge of her nose. “Ugh, whatever. We all caught our breath? Let’s get miles behind us.”

The rest of us pull ourselves off the benches.  I’m no longer certain if all the sweat in my hair is still my own, but we’re both too tired to give a crap. We head through the doorways to the platforms, and soon figure out which set of tracks we need to follow.

“This is the one, guys!” Monika says, crouching down to hop off the platform. Right as she’s ready to jump, an eastbound train screams past the platform; 2 inches from Monika’s nose. Judging by the horn not being blown, the breakneck speed it was travelling at, and the lazy arms hanging out the windows, that was a train full of infected passengers. Probably the driver too.

I watch the train as it speeds off. A couple hundred feet past us, the train gets thrown into a siding and plows right through the stopblock at highway speeds. As each car in the train careens into the nearby suburbia like 20-ton buckshot pellets, I can’t decide if the sight or the sound is the greater spectacle.

The five of us stare at the literal trainwreck unfolding before us. When the dust settles, and the last metro car slams into the last storefront, Sayori turns her attention to Monika.

“Are you okay?” Is all she asks.

“Well, if I wasn’t alert before I sure as shit am now.” Monika replies. “Okay everyone... Don’t walk directly on the tracks if you can help it.”

The walk down the railroad tracks isn’t much different from the walk to the station, but at least now there’s a sense that we’re starting to cover some ground. Doesn’t stink anywhere near as much either. The elevated tracks put us about two stories above the ground. So we’re getting a view about on par with the rooftop hopping we did last night, but without having to watch our step so much. To the west, I can make out a ridge of mountains on the horizon. Is that where we’re headed? Then I remember that we’re covering that distance on foot...

I’d best distract myself.

“Y’know... “ I say, leaning into Sayori’s ear. “I think I’ve seen that station we stopped at before.”

“You’ve probably passed it a lot on the train.” Sayori says.

“No, like. The waiting room and everything.” I respond. “You were there.”

Sayori gets this focused look on her face. As if she’s pouring through her memories for what I’m talking about.

“We would’ve been kids.” I add, just remembering that detail myself.

Sayori nods to herself, still staring at the railroad tracks in concentration. Just before I look away, she figures it out. “I remember now! We were on our way to the airport!”

“Oh yeah!” I say. “On our way to go visit your aunt in Pennsylvania prefecture, right?”

“Mhm!” Sayori nods. “I think we were there for her wedding, but we did some other stuff too. Right?”

“Yeaah There was that place with all the steam trains, for one.” I say.

“And they were all so  _ loud! _ ” Sayori adds. “They’re never that loud on TV!”

“But at least  _ they _ weren’t flying off the rails at breakneck speed.” I say.

Sayori stops and goes quiet at that remark. Immediately, I can tell that it wasn’t anywhere near as funny as it was in my head.

“Those poor people.” Sayori says. “I can’t imagine how scary it must have been, being trapped on that train,  _ knowing _ you were going to die.”

_ Wow. _ I couldn’t have missed the mark harder with that one if I tried.

It really gets you thinking… “Now that you mention it. We’ve gotten  _ insanely _ lucky so far, haven’t we? We weren’t trapped anywhere, we knew a gun nut  _ and _ a survivalist, and we have somewhere safe to go.”

“Yeah. We really did get lucky, didn’t we?” Sayori says. “Especially since we were all together when this all started.”

“I didn’t even think of that one!” I scratch the back of my head, contemplating just how hard we won the zombie apocalypse lottery. “Geez, how could we have lucked out any harder than we already did?”

Sayori gives me a grin. “Maybe if we were crazy survivalists ourselves.”

“Is that really luck? Or is that more foresight?” I ask.

“Yeah, you got a point.” Sayori says, staring up at the overhead wires.  


I follow her gaze, and quickly remember something I’ve been meaning to say. “Oh yeah! That was a great save back at the konbini. Thanks for that.”

Sayori beams. “Don’t say I never take care of you~”

“Speaking of taking care of me…” I begin. “You mind looking at my head real quick? I think she might’ve bruised my temples. It really  _ feels _ like she did.”

“Well, just bring that handsome noggin over here and I’ll take a look.” Sayori says, making a “gimme” gesture.

I lean in and let her take a look at my head. Once my face is inches from hers, she takes mine in her hands and gently turns it to each side.

“You’ve got some bruising. Yeah.” Sayori says, consolatorily. “The one on the left isn’t anywhere near as bad, though.”

Well, that explains why my right temple hurts more, at least.

“So what do you prescribe, doc?” I ask with a coy grin.

“Well, I could look for an ointment in my pack. But unless there’s something there, all I can do is try kissing it better.” Sayori says.

“I certainly wouldn’t mind  _ that _ treatment.” I say. “Would you mind doing that too?”

That gets a giggle out of Sayori. “For you? Not a problem at all~”

Pausing her search through her pack, Sayori leans in and plants a gentle smooch on each side of my head.

“Y’know, that might just be all the treatment I need.” I say.

“Are you  _ sure _ you don’t want some aloe on it?” Sayori says, holding up a tube of aloe vera cream.

“Oh.” I say. “Yeah, that’d be nice too.”

I surrender my noggin to Sayori once more so that she can apply the cream.

“What’s twelve plus nine?” Sayori asks.

“...Twenty one?” I say, using my expression to ask Sayori what’s she’s on about.

“What’s the capital of the United Prefectures?” Sayori says.

“Honolulu.” I say. “You were with me when I passed the second grade, you know.”

“What street do you live on?” Sayori insists.

“Showa Lane.” I respond.

“Okay, good! That runner didn’t give you a concussion, at least.” Sayori says, immediately making it clear to me what she was trying to do.

“Alright. That’s good to-”

“Oh, for FUCK’S SAKE, lovebirds!” Natsuki shouts, about 100 feet ahead of us. “You can whisper your sweet nothings and stare into each other’s eyes when we AREN’T standing on railroad tracks!”

We double time it to get back to the other three. At least they waited for us before we started walking again.

“Geez, Natsuki. I asked you to get their attention, not bite their heads off.” Monika says.

“Oh, you are the  _ last _ person to be tone policing us, Monika.” Natsuki snaps back. “You’ve been talking to us like we’re a bunch of disobedient fucking  _ children _ since we left Yuri’s house!”

Monika opens her mouth to respond, but Natsuki isn’t finished. She continues in a mocking falsetto. “Myeeeeeh! Let’s  _ gooooo _ you big stupid whiny babies! But don’t even  _ think _ about stopping to feed yourselves. You’d better just leave that whole fucking box of food untouched and starve because opening it would hurt my  _ feeeeeeeliiiiiiiiiiiings! _ ”

Maybe I can defuse this. “Hey, Monika’s been kinda harsh, but she isn’t  _ trying _ to-”

“Don’t you even open your  _ goddamn mouth, _ loverboy!” Natsuki says. “I swear to Amaterasu if I have to watch you and Sayori be all sickly sweet at each other  _ one more time _ I don’t know if I’m going to shoot you or myself.”

“Hey! Sayori didn’t do anything to deserve that!” I shout.

“Well then it’s a good thing I was talking to  _ you _ , fuckstick!” Natsuki says.

“Both of you, stop it!” Monika orders. “Every second we spend bickering is another second we aren’t-”

“That’s all you fucking care about, isn’t it!?” Natsuki says. “The only thing that matters to you is your precious little  _ death march. _ ”

“Well if you’d prefer to sit here and wait for the zombies to get you, be my guest.” Monika says. “I’m sure we’d all like a break from your bitching!”

“Stop it! STOP IT!” Sayori shouts, on the verge of tears. “We’re supposed to be friends!”

“Friends don’t order friends to  _ FUCKING STARVE!” _ Natsuki’s words echo as she stares us all down, trembling with unbridled rage.

The volume, the  _ fury _ behind that last remark is enough to silence everyone else. After a palpable pause, Monika just turns her back and keeps on walking. As if to silently tell us all to move on from this fight.

My legs can walk away from what just happened, but my mind can’t. The entire, vindictive exchange keeps replaying in my head. Each time, my mind’s ear adds just one extra teaspoon of venom to each word.

I hear some sniffling on my left. It doesn't take me long to figure out whose it is.

Even if the argument barely involved Sayori, it was still nasty enough to get her crying. I remember her being the kid who would cry because someone else was crying when we were little. And even two total strangers arguing in public is enough to get her misty eyed sometimes.

Before I can say anything, Sayori wraps her arms around my waist and buries her face in my side. We’re still at the back of the group, so we don’t have to worry about Natsuki seeing and pointing more nastiness at us. Then again, she only really pointed nastiness at  _ me _ .

In fact, it almost sounded like Natsuki was explicitly leaving Sayori out of this one. I can see what Natsuki’s beef with Monika is, and she didn't have a single bad thing to say to Yuri, but why is she so annoyed with me? Is it really  _ me _ she’s annoyed with? Or is there some resentment she hasn’t admitted to yet?

I gently pet Sayori’s hair as I try and piece together just what’s going through Natsuki’s head. Sayori will be alright. In this kind of situation, she’s always fine after she’s had a good cry. All I need to do is give her a way to do so more comfortably.

There’s precious little else to warm the rest of our journey, though. I’m not even sure how much time passed before another train station came into view. We’re all eager for something to break the monotony, so when Monika points to the station, we all follow her in without a second thought. It’ll be nice to be in the shade for a while, if nothing else.

I think my body’s getting used to the constant footslogging, because by the time we reach the station, I don’t feel the need to pass out on the nearest bench anymore. I’m even feeling well enough to poke around the place.

There’s not much to report, in all honesty. It’s an empty train station. I toyed with the idea of trying to get coins out of the ticket machine, but what the hell am I going to do with those? Does anyone still accept legal tender?

Why not take a look around the cafe? I find that they’ve still got a few curry donuts behind the counter. Score! I eat one, then another. Then my conscience finally manages to overpower my appetite. The others would like a little pick-me-up too, right?

I wave everyone over to the cafe. Monika, Sayori and Yuri come over to see what I’m so excited about. When I show them the four remaining curry donuts, their eyes immediately light up. There’s something nice about seeing everyone’s mood lightening as they scarf down this little culinary reprieve. Today has sucked some serious ass, so it’s nice to see everyone smile for once.

“So, who gets dibs on the last one?” Monika asks. The four of us look at each other to see who’ll lay the claim.

“Shouldn’t we save it for Natsuki?” Yuri asks. I kick myself for forgetting about her. It wasn’t even out of resentment for before either. I just legitimately forgot. Good thing Yuri caught that one.

“Where is she anyway?” I add. None of us have kept an eye on her since we made it to this station.

Her shout from the men’s bathroom answers our question for us. “Holy shit, look who we have here!”

Smelling danger, the four of us bolt to the bathroom to back her up. We squeeze through the door to find Natsuki with her revolver trained on a shambler. He’s locked eyes with Natsuki, but he’s yet to make a move.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for a chance like this?” Natsuki says. Part of me wants to ask “Who the hell is that?”, but I don’t think Natsuki has noticed us yet.

“All those years, all those shouting matches, all those times you bitched at me for my hobbies, and all those nights going hungry because you were too busy moping to cook!” Natsuki continues. I’m still not sure what’s going on, but the context clues are mounting.

“Seriously. What kind of useless dad has the brass BALLS to criticize a daughter he can’t even consistently feed?”

Oh.  _ Oh. _ I’d better keep my mouth shut.

“You always said I’d be dependant on you forever. Yeah? Well, guess what motherfucker! I’m surviving, and you’ve already died. Now all that’s left is to put you out of your misery!”

Natsuki puts a round through her father’s infected head. I watch as his blood hits the wall and his lifeless body hits the ground.

But I don’t see any satisfaction on Natsuki’s face. Reflected in the bathroom mirrors, I watch Natsuki’s face go from wondering where the vindication she thought she’d feel was, to horrific realisation at what she’d just done, to out and out tearful agony.

Her revolver clatters to the floor. Just a second later Natsuki falls to her knees. I can just about hear her choke out “Papa… I’m sorry, papa…”

All the resentment I was feeling from earlier is out the window now. Now I know why she was so upset about food. So upset about Monika’s harsh tone and orders. And for all I know, she’s just put down the only family she still had. She’d never mentioned her mother, or siblings, or any other blood relatives. How utterly alone must she be feeling right now?

I want nothing more than to comfort her somehow, but there’s no way she’d accept sympathy from “loverboy”. I suppose it’s a good thing Sayori’s stepping in, then.

Sayori joins Natsuki on the floor, pulling her into a hug from the side. Natsuki keeps on sobbing, but she leans into Sayori’s embrace.

Monika’s the next one to speak. “Oh my god… Natsuki, I’m so sorry. I didn’t-”

“Fuck off…” Natsuki chokes out.

Monika stops herself from trying to push the issue and sighs. “Alright, I’ll back off. You’re absolutely right to be angry with me, Natsuki.”

Natsuki turns her reddened eyes towards Monika; in disbelief at what she’d just heard.

“I knew your dad was strict, but I didn’t realize it was....” Monika continues.

“Y-You saw what just…” Natsuki tries to form a full thought.

“We all did.” Yuri answers.

“God dammit all…” Is Natsuki’s only response. Sayori just hugs her tighter.

I hesitate a moment, but find it in me to ask. “Was he the last family member you had?”

Natsuki nods. “I thought I was used to going it alone. Th’fuck did  _ I _ know about being alone before today?”

“I don’t know, but you’re still not alone.” Sayori whispers, right by Natsuki’s ear. “We’re all right here.”

That sets Natsuki’s tears off all over again.

Monika gets on one knee and offers Natsuki a hand up. “Come on. Let’s go lay him to rest.”

We pull a promotional banner down from this station’s atrium and lay Natsuki’s father atop it. Then the four of us grab a corner and carry his remains with us. All but Natsuki. She’s already carrying the weight of shooting him, after all. And someone needs their hands free to respond to any threats.

And so we continue however many miles it takes. None of us uttering even a single word of complaint or grunt of exertion until the railroad tracks return to ground level.

“Right there.” Natsuki points to a bush by the side of the railroad tracks. Once we’ve laid his body down, Natsuki pulls out her Lobo and begins to dig her father a grave. Right in the green between the rails and the fence that separates them from the road. Even then, she doesn’t dig alone. Monika and I occasionally soften the ground for her with our knives. Sayori takes over digging for her once in a while. Yuri stands guard over us all; quickly felling any infected that make an approach.

None of us care to track the time, but right as the sun begins to fall behind the mountains to our west, Monika holds up a hand.  


“There. That should be about six feet.” She says.

With a silent nod, Natsuki sits by her father’s side.

“Hey there dad…” She begins. “Never thought it’d end like this, huh?”

She hesitates a moment before carrying on. “I’m… sorry for being such a difficult daughter. I always thought you were just a mopey old… y’know. But now? Now I realize just how much loss fuckin’  _ hurts _ … Is this what you felt when we lost mom?”

I see the beginnings of tears in Monika’s eyes. I feel them trying to break through too.

“If this is how you were feeling, then… You really  _ were _ just doing the best you could with what you had, weren’t you?”

Sayori’s doing a good job holding herself together, all things considered.

“I wish I could do better for you, especially since this is the end and all. But… Shit.” Natsuki takes a moment to pull herself back together. Yuri takes a knee and offers Natsuki a handkerchief. At some point, Sayori and I find ourselves joining hands.

Natsuki puts her forehead against what’s left of her father’s. “When this is all over, I’ll come back for you. Okay? See about getting you a real grave.”

With that, Natsuki puts a hand to the side of her head and works one of her ribbons out of her hair. Then she closes her father’s hand over it. “Here. You always liked these. So… you can remember me by it, okay?”

Sayori speaks up. “But Natsuki, now your hair is...”

“I’ve lost a lot today. At this point I don’t really care about losing symmetry too.” Natsuki replies, pulling her head back up.

For a while, Natsuki sits in silence; just trying to make the last look she would ever get at her father last as long as possible. None of us say a word until she speaks again to tell us that she’s ready.

At her signal, the four of us take the banner we’d carried her father on, wrap it over his body as best we can, and gently lower him into his impromptu grave. As we all pitch in to refill the grave, I find myself wondering how many other infected wound up getting this treatment. How many people wanted to do this for their dead, but couldn’t find a place? Or just didn’t have time? Or themselves turned before they could?

And just where the hell did this outbreak come from anyway? I heard absolutely nothing about it until that first day in class. How did it spread so quickly, so unnoticed? I’d just assume this was all a nightmare, but it’s lasted far too long. The pain has been far too real. And the exchanges I’ve had with the rest of the literature club have been far too vivid.

But as twisted as it might be to say, there are some parts of this that I really do hope are for real. Even if it’s for the sake of survival, I’ve never felt a sense of shared purpose as strong as I do now. Nor have I felt a bond quite as strong as  what I’ve finally found with Sayori. That much, I truly hope is for real.  


Once the dirt has been packed down, Monika addresses us all again. “Okay everyone. Let’s shelter at the next station. It’s as far as we’ll get before nightfall.”

Natsuki is the last of us to leave the grave site, and even as she walks away, she keeps glancing at where her father had been laid to rest.

Once we’ve all returned to our full pace, Monika hands Natsuki that curry donut we’d saved for her.

“Sorry I’ve been pushing you so hard.” She says.

“It’s the apocalypse and you’ve got to keep us moving.” Natsuki takes a bite out of the donut. “I get that.”

“Even then, that’s no reason to insult you guys like I have been.” Monika says, addressing all of us now. “If I keep thinking like that, it’s going to leak into my decisions. And  _ that _ could lead to… Well, something I’d never want to happen.”

“Leading is hard, Monika.” Sayori says. “Just acknowledging that you can do better tells me that you’re going to do a great job.”

“Ahaha… that really does mean a lot. Thank you, Sayori.” Monika says, looking out over the distant mountainscape. “We really are in this for the long haul, aren’t we? Let’s unload all our unspoken here. Lighten our packs for the road ahead.”

There are some quiet nods of agreement, but nobody volunteers to start.  


“Natsuki?” Sayori begins. “Would you mind telling me what bothers you so much about MC and I?”

“I… Well, it’s…” Natsuki trails off. I guess she doesn’t know either.

“Take your time, Natsuki. It’s not often that people really examine why they feel the way they do, as much as it would benefit them to do so.” Yuri says.

Natsuki still doesn't look like she has the answer, but she speaks up. “It’s nothing personal, now that I think about it. I just don’t like watching  _ anybody _ get all lovey-dovey.”

“I get it.” I say with a shrug. “They make rules against public displays of affection for a reason, after all.”

“But I get even more annoyed than most people, and I’m not sure why.” Natsuki says.

“Well, there’s got to be something that separates your reaction from other people’s. Some reason that other people don’t feel as much of a sting.” Monika says.

I watch Natsuki mouth the last part of Monika’s sentence to herself, going deep into thought. It takes her a few more seconds, but Natsuki finally hits the answer she’s been looking for. “It’s because other people have someone they can do that kind of thing with, isn’t it?”

In one sentence, Natsuki made me completely understand what her issue with us was.

“I… Not even dad and I were ever close, and the few times I tried opening up got me hurt.” Natsuki added, still devoid of emotion. Is she just out of emotional energy? I’d be in her position.

Sayori matches Natsuki’s stride and starts to gently rub her shoulder. “It’s okay. We won’t do that to you.”

“And how do I know that?” Natsuki asks, not visibly comforted by Sayori’s gesture.

“To put it in rather, well... cynical terms, harming you would be detrimental to our own survival. Would it not?” Yuri says.  “Plus, I’ve grown quite fond of you since we exchanged poems about the beach.”

Natsuki cracks a tired smile. “Have you? I guess that’s good enough reason.”

“Anyone else need to get something off their chest?” Monika asks.

“I’m fine. I love you guys~” Sayori says with a smile.

“I ask only that everyone direct their anger at its actual source.” Yuri says.

“Right… Sorry again about that.” Monika says.

I respond with a noncommittal shrug.

“Then that’s everyone.” Monika says. “If any new ones pop up, talk it out as soon as you can. Because from here on out, we’re a  _ team _ .”

Everyone seems pretty pleased with that idea. Even Natsuki manages to crack a faint smile, drained as she is.

And so the four of us walk on until we reach the next station. All the while, the rest of the literature club starts to talk like a group of friends again. Natsuki remains fairly quiet, but she’s holding her head just a little bit higher now.

I also keep quiet, since I keep on thinking about Monika’s declaration. A team, huh? We already saw little shades of that before now. When we rescued Sayori from her own paralysis, I felt it. There was this brief spark of unity. This sense that we were all parts of one well-oiled machine.

Now that I have a moment to contemplate it, I realize just how amazing that felt. After spending so much time on my own, I didn’t even realize that this feeling existed. Is this what keeps athletes playing their chosen sport?

I may have something truly special with  Sayori , but now I truly appreciate what the rest of us have between each other. Is there a word for it? “Friends” is one thing, but I have a feeling that it’s going to grow deeper than that. ”Squad” doesn’t really feel right either. None of us are shouting about echo deltas at four-niner-niner clicks northeast.

Or maybe, it doesn’t need a name. The important thing is that we’re going to make it through this. Together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took longer to finish than I'd like. The Natsuki version on it's own took a month because A. It had to be so significantly different from every other version, and B. because I didn't think to outline the changes I'd make before I tried to write them. But at the end of the day, I'm really happy with how it turned out.
> 
> On the plus side, the trailer for the mod version of this fanfic is now available for viewing on another team member, AstraNova's channel!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO_4eThQyec


End file.
